Someone with Xu Ziyan’s fiery temper could hardly stand being nagged. He could not guarantee that, if Xu Mo continued lecturing him, he would not say something rude.
And cursing in front of Xu Zirong would ruin his image as a wonderful big brother! That absolutely had to be avoided!
Perhaps Xu Ziyan’s confidence had rubbed off on the rest of the Xu family, because everyone eagerly anticipated his performance the next day.
The disciples chosen by the Xu family to apply to other sects were naturally talented themselves. They had long heard how hard the young master of the main branch worked.
At his age, Xu Ziyan had every reason to be proud of his cultivation. Barring the unexpected, he could hardly fail the assessment.
The Flowing Light Sect’s examination lasted three days. Only after it ended would the other Xu disciples travel to different sects in search of masters. They had arranged things this way because Xu Ziyan’s admission was fairly certain, whereas Zirong’s three spiritual roots made his prospects much less clear.
Zirong’s distinctive gift seemed to lie in his comprehension, but comprehension was such an elusive quality. However astonishing his present cultivation, on paper he could hardly compete with geniuses possessing heavenly or mutated spiritual roots.
Xu Ziyan, however, was more confident than anyone.
Who was Xu Zirong? Why, the notorious great demon of his previous life! Even if he had not cultivated the Blood Sea Heart Scripture this time (not really!), he would certainly not be mediocre. So what if he had three spiritual roots? There were plenty of three-root cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage. Lightning roots, water roots, single-element roots, whatever: they offered a stronger foundation, but future achievement ultimately depended on each person’s opportunities.
Comprehension might be hard to measure, but everyone acknowledged that it could make cultivation far more efficient. His own previous enlightenment had raised his cultivation by leaps and bounds in a short time. Although Zirong had never experienced such an enlightenment, his progress was already extraordinary. Surely the Flowing Light Sect’s elders would not be foolish enough to turn away such a rare talent.
In fact, Xu Ziyan suspected that those cunning old elders might value Zirong even more highly than him.
The night passed peacefully. Xu Ziyan felt that Zirong, now eleven, was a little old to keep sharing a bed with him. But whenever he offered to arrange a separate room, Zirong would look at him like an abandoned puppy, and Xu Ziyan could never finish what he was saying.
Perhaps because his mother had died young and his father had never cared much about him, Zirong lacked a sense of security. Anyone could tell from the way he clung tightly to Xu Ziyan every night.
Thanks to Zirong, Xu Ziyan’s sleeping habits had improved considerably. After all, when someone wrapped around you like a python, there was only so much rolling around you could do.
Mm… Xu Ziyan’s nocturnal rotations had been reduced from 360 degrees to 180. Zirong’s relentless clinging deserved much of the credit…
Early in the morning, Xu Mo’s thunderous shout woke the brothers, who were tangled together in the quilt like a twisted pastry. They exchanged a glance and struggled out of bed.
Xu Zirong was somewhat annoyed with himself. His vigilance was deteriorating, and that was not a good sign.
After washing and dressing, they set out with the taciturn middle-aged escort for the forest outside Fa’an City’s western gate.
The Flowing Light Sect’s protection extended only as far as the city gates. Fighting outside the walls was none of its concern. The meeting place lay in a small forest some distance from the city, and even the journey there was part of the prospective disciples’ examination.
The sect had already cleared the designated section of the route of demonic beasts stronger than Foundation Establishment. But that clearing extended only from the forest entrance to the meeting point. No one monitored the stretch between the city gate and the forest.
The top three applicants in the inner-sect examination would receive lavish rewards, and first place could choose a master. If that master happened to be the sect leader, the disciple might even someday inherit leadership of the sect. Of course, that was only a possibility.
Competition for the top three places was always fierce. Since Xu Ziyan intended to claim first, he had no intention of letting his guard down.
When the original Xu Ziyan took this examination, he had been only at the seventh level of Qi Refining and knew no attack other than Thunderclap. With a lightning spiritual root but no suitable techniques to match it, his performance had been only somewhat above average.
Perhaps because he was not particularly strong, the original Xu Ziyan had passed the assessment without incident and earned a middling rank. The strongest candidates, however, had all encountered attacks on the way.
These attacks were not meant to kill, but to leave injuries that would undermine an applicant’s performance. Now that Xu Ziyan belonged among the outstanding geniuses himself, he had to guard against the same dirty tricks.
The silent escort needed only to accompany him to the forest’s edge. From there, Xu Ziyan would have to continue on his own. The man’s real job was to protect him from attacks by the powerful families backing other candidates. Xu Ziyan felt reasonably confident against the candidates themselves.
“That’s far enough, Uncle Liu,” Xu Ziyan said at the edge of the forest, dismissing the middle-aged man.
Uncle Liu nodded and turned to leave, but first cast a meaningful look toward the trees.
Xu Ziyan understood the warning. Someone was undoubtedly watching from inside the forest, though he could not yet tell whether the observers belonged to the Flowing Light Sect or other candidates.
Half a shichen remained before the meeting deadline. Xu Ziyan smiled, took Zirong by the hand and walked openly into the trees.
Once inside, he appeared to stroll calmly toward the meeting point. In reality, he had sharpened all his senses and was ready for an ambush at any moment.
The sect tacitly permitted these attacks between candidates. After all, a cultivator needed more than strength to go far; they also needed a brain. Those who walked into the forest unprepared and were injured by someone’s scheme would not get a chance to complain.
“Zirong, stay close to Big Brother. Don’t run off,” Xu Ziyan instructed softly.
Xu Zirong nodded obediently. He had not experienced this examination in his previous life, but Xu Ziyan’s behavior made it clear that things were not as simple as he had imagined.
Once again he was grateful that the Blood Sea Heart Scripture allowed him to store spiritual power in his blood. No matter who examined him now, they would fail to discover that the total spiritual power within him had reached Great Perfection of Qi Refining.
The brothers looked completely relaxed, as though simply taking a walk. They wandered along and occasionally Xu Ziyan plucked a wild fruit to taste.
Anyone seeing them would never have guessed they were taking an examination. They looked more like two boys enjoying a spring outing.
On a small tree nearby, a bird barely the length of a finger watched them curiously.
The bird looked ordinary. It perched on a branch and occasionally pecked at its feathers. Its motions were so lifelike that anyone would mistake it for an ordinary bird.
Only its eyes were unusual: black as obsidian, yet utterly devoid of life.
Far away in a side hall of the Flowing Light Sect, dozens of disciples were busily recording observations.
In front of each stood a shallow basin filled with water. A stabilized Water Mirror technique had been cast inside, and a low-grade spirit stone was embedded in the basin’s rim to supply a continuous stream of spiritual power.
The water in the basins displayed many different scenes, most showing this year’s examination candidates. Xu Ziyan and Xu Zirong were among them; indeed, the brothers were one of the groups receiving special attention.
The ordinary inner-sect disciple assigned to watch Xu Ziyan sneered at the sight of him wandering toward the meeting place as casually as someone picking flowers.
There was nothing visibly wrong from his viewing angle. But the neighboring water mirror showed a man in close-fitting black clothes lying in wait roughly two hundred meters from the brothers.
The observer shook his head and sighed. He was certain Xu Ziyan would be caught in the ambush and injured. An elder had considered Xu Ziyan promising enough to order special observation, yet the boy seemed completely unguarded. His cultivation was high, but could it have been raised artificially with pills?
If that was the case, there was nothing remarkable about him. Without combat experience, even if he reached the meeting point, his performance in the assessment would probably disappoint.
“What a waste. Why couldn’t that elder have taken an interest in me?” the disciple muttered sourly. An instant later, however, the image on the screen left his jaw hanging open.
Xu Ziyan, who had seemed so relaxed, suddenly sprang upward. He tapped his storage bag and drew out a long silver bow.
He took no arrow from the bag. Instead, he pulled back the bowstring with two fingers, and a purple arrow crackling with lightning slowly formed between string and bow.
Without hesitation, Xu Ziyan released the string. The lightning arrow shot into the distance. The watching disciple instinctively glanced at the adjacent water mirror just as a streak of purple light appeared. Before the ambusher could react, the arrow pierced straight through his shoulder.
The man was stunned. He had never imagined that Xu Ziyan would detect him from such a distance, much less shoot an arrow capable of wounding him.